01/08/18 – DSRSG #Walpole revisited the Baghdad electoral recount centre to assess progress on the manual recount of votes from the 12 May national #elections; met with Judge Jassim, Head of the Board of Judges overseeing the recount, recount staff and reps of political parties.
Progress?
Elections were May 12th.
It's now August 6th.
Where are the results?
Arwa Ibrahim (ALJAZEERA) reports:
Nearly three months since Iraqis went to the polls
to cast their ballots in a parliamentary election, a new government is
yet to be announced - and the wait might be long.
With no party or bloc able to secure an outright
majority in the May 12 vote, political leaders in the country began
negotiations over the formation of a governing coalition.
The process, however, has been put on hold due to a
manual recount of votes that was called on in June following
allegations of rigging.
Six days from three months and still no government.
Eight months is how long it took to form a government after the 2010 elections. Will it take five more months this go round?
The people need results from their government.
Protests have been going on for over a month -- and 14 protesters are dead -- because the needs of the people are not being met.
At what point do the politicians get their act together? Or are they just waiting for the US to once again pick their prime minister for them?